BLUFFTON, S.C. (WTOC) - Spring practice for the May River Sharks looks a little different these days.

There are no sprints. No whistles. No admonition to players for not hustling off the field.

No, these are different times for high school football teams across the country. So that’s why Sharks head coach Rodney Summers decided to call for different measures.

“It was a spur of the moment thing," Summers says. "I just said can we pull a spring practice off just by virtually meeting with them?”

That question now has an answer and a new spring practice tactic for May River: virtual meetings for the next few weeks. It’s not business as usual, but Summers believes there’s a number of things the Sharks can do this way.

The team is holding position meetings online to go over scheme, terminology, and plays. (Source: WTOC)

“Installing our offense and defense. Going through our scheme, whether it’s an alignment or a play,” Summers says. “We have video from previous years. So it’s just using all the stuff we have technology-wise to teach our kids the basics of our offense and defense.”

It may not be a typical practice, but Summers and the Sharks believe these video conferences will do this team good down the road.

"When we do the hit the field and we get the lift from the governor and the high school league to go out and do it, we’ll be ready to go mentally as well as physically,” Summers hopes.

Head coach Rodney Summers says the team is simply making the most of the situation. (Source: WTOC)

After two years of deep playoff runs, the Sharks are looking for the extra boost to get to a state championship. While this may not be business as usual for the team, they hope it could give them an advantage when the game goes from virtual to on the field.

“This is going to help everybody on the team, the rising freshmen to the seniors." says rising senior QB Ahmad Green. "It gets everybody on the same chemistry level as a team.”

Author

Sports Director

Jake had a pretty good person to look up to. His father, Jim, has spent over 40 years in the TV business as an award-winning sports and news anchor in Georgia. Jake studied multimedia communications at Georgia Southern University, and his time in Statesboro confirmed his desire to chase his sports broadcasting dreams.

RECENT CONTENT

A peaceful protest on Saturday in Statesboro, with demonstrators marching from the Bulloch County Courthouse, to the Statesboro Police Department, carrying a cross with the names of black men and women killed.